Method of making woven-wire screens



July 31, 1928. 1,678,941

A. E. HELMAN METHOD OF MAKING WOVEN WIRE SCREENS Original Filed June 9,1927 I 1 E 7 Iuwenfor h? AugustEHdman u a 6 W W fimwgs.

- Patented July 31, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST E. HELMAN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE W. S. TYLERCOMPANY,

OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

METHOD OF MAKING WOVEN-WIRE SCREENS.

Original application filed June 9, 1927, Serial No. 197,643. Divided andthis application filed June 20,

1928. Serial No. 286,999.

The present invention, relating as indicated to a woven wire screen, 1smore particularly directed to an improved method of makin a woven wirescreen to .avoid the l necesslty for rolling or flattenlng the screenafter weaving, for the purpose of bringing into substantially thegeneral plane ofthe screen the knuckles or knees of the Wires.

transverse wires upon the longitudinal,

wires, with the result that the rolling or flattening process, whilebenefitting the 2 screen in one respect is a serious detr ment inanother and produces a screen which is loose, sleazy, and very muchmoresub ect to movement of the wires out of their original position withthe resultant inaccuracy of the grading of materials. In many cases therolling of the screen distorts the mesh so much that it cannot be usedat, all and in almost every case some distortion is produced by ro ling.

The present inventlon s directed to an improved method of maklng a wovenwire screen, and particularly to an improved method of preliminarilytreating one or both series of wires to secure the desired as resultswithout losing any of the benefits of the employment of preliminarilycrimped transverse wires.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims; the annexed drawing and thefollowing description setting forth in detail one method of carrying outmy invention, such disclosed procedure constituting, however, but one ofthe various applications of theprlnciple of my invention.

In said annexed drawings Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view showing apair of crimping rolls with wires passed therebetween; Fig. 2 is anenlarged sectional view showing the action of the rolls on the wire;Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the wire after the crimping treatment;

Referring now to Fig. 1, there are shown two co-operative rolls 1 and 2,which are provided with a series of teeth or corrugations 3 and 4,respectively. Between these two rolls is passed a wire 5 which, as it isengaged between the teeth, is bent into corrugated portions 6, shown atthe left of Fig. 1. The rolls 1 and 2 are so spaced and the corrugatingelements or ribs 3 and 4 are so proportioned in depth and in spacingfrom each other that as the wire is engaged between the rolls the apex 7of each rib or tooth forces the wire against the recess 8 in the otherroll corresponding in position to the tooth 7 and slightly 'flattens thecrest 9 of the crimped portion of the wire and also the recessedsurface10 of the same portion, since the spacing between the apex of the toothand the corresponding recess of the other roll is less than the normalthickness of the wire. 5. The teeth of the rolls are spaced apartsufficiently so that the wire when crimped is not forced completely intocontact around the sides of the ribs or teeth, but is spaced slightlyfrom these sides, as indicated inFig. 2, except at the crests of thecorrugations, with the result that the metal intermediate the crests ofthe successive corrugations is not engaged by theteeth and is not workedor hardened during this action. The crests of the corrugations whichform the so-called knuckles of the woven screen are, however, worked andhardened during the bending and flattening operation, producing a muchincreased rigidity and strength at the intersections, that is, theinterengagingpoints of the transverse and longitudinal wires of thefinal screen. In some cases only the transverse or the longitudinalwires are preliminarily crimped, and a screen formed of such wires isvery much superior to one made in the former way and then rolled.

The form of the preliminarily crimped wire is shown in Fig. 3 and thefinished screen in Fig. 4. In the latter view the longitudinal wires 11are shown received within the angular recesses or knuckles 12 of thetransverse wires 5, and these longitudinal wires are there being heldwithout any loosening of the engagement; Frequently the wires areloosened when the woven screen is rolled by the old method to bring theknuckles into the general plane of the screen, as has already beenexplalned. In this View there are also shown the flattened crests 9 ofthe corrugations in the transverse wires.

My improved screen, or one made by my improved method hereinbeforedescribed, is equally level and flat as screens made by previousmethods, is very much more rigid and less subject to variation in thespacing between longitudinal wires, and is stronger in the wires whichhave been crimped because of the temper given to the knuckle portions ofthe corrugations by the action of the crimping rolls. A furtherimportant advantage of the present screen lies in the fact.

that a better screen of a materially longer life may hefproduced at alower cost than that of the former screens.

This application'is a division of m applicat'ion Ser. No. 197,643, filedJune 9, 1927.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may e emgloyedinstead of the one explained, change eing made as regards the methodherein disclosed, provided the step or steps stated by any of thefollowing claims or the equivalent of such stated step or steps heemployed. c

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as myinvention 1. In a method of making a woven wire screen, the steps whichconsist in preliminarily bending one series of wires into crimpedcondition with'an exact and predetermined spacing between the crimpstherein, simultaneously flattening the crest of each of such crimps toharden and increase the flattened antenna the rigidity of the wires atsuch points, and then weaving said Wires into a screen by an rangingthem in parallelism and positioning a second set of wires at rightangles to the first set and engaged in locked relation in portions ofsaid first-named wires.

2. In a method of making a woven wire screen, the steps which consist inpreliminarily 'hcnding one series of wires into a crimped condition withan exact and predetermined spacing between the crimps therein,simultaneously flattening the crest of each of such. crimps to hardenand increase the rigidity of the Wires at such points, bending thesecond series ofwires also into a crimped condition with an exactand-predetermmed spacing between the crimps therein, also simultaneouslyflattening the crests of the crimped portions of saitlsecond series ofwires; and then weaving-said wires into a screen by arranging the firstset in parallelism with the'respective crimps in transverse alinementand positioning said second series of wires at right angles to thefirst, while causing the flattened crimped portions of both series ofWires to be engaged in locked relation with each other.

3. In a method of making a woven wire narily crimping the transversewires to the contour required in a woven screen, simultaneouslyflattening the upper and'lower surfaces at the crest of each of suchcrimps to harden and increase the rigidity of the wires at such points,and then weaving said preliminarily crimped transverse wiresthroughparallel longitudinal wires to produce a woven wire screen.

Signed by me', this 16th day of June, 1928.

AUGUST E. HELMAN.

screen, the steps which consist in prelimi-

